Simon Callow
) | Job= Actor | Gender= Male | Height= 5'7" (170 cm) | Hair= Gray | Eyes= Hazel | Played= Duke of Sandringham | Seasons= season1-2 | Imdb= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001003/ | Twitter= https://twitter.com/SimonCallow }} Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor, musician, writer, and theatre director. Early years Callow was born in , , the son of Yvonne Mary (née Guise), a secretary, and Neil Francis Callow, a businessman. His father was of English and French descent and his mother was of Danish and German ancestry. He was brought up . Callow attended the and then went on to study at ('Queen's') in where he was active in the Northern Ireland civil-rights movement, before giving up his degree course to go into acting at the . Career Callow's immersion in the theatre began after he wrote a fan letter to , the Artistic Director of the , and received a response suggesting he join their box office staff. It was while watching actors rehearse that he realised he wanted to act. Callow made his stage debut in 1973, appearing in at the , Edinburgh. In the early 1970s he joined the Gay Sweatshop theatre company and performed in critically acclaimed Passing By. In 1977 he took various parts in the 's production of and in 1979 he starred in 's The Soul of the White Ant at the . He made his first film appearance, as Schikaneder, in in 1984 (having played in the original stage production at the in 1979). His first television role was in episode "Orgy and Bess", in 1975, but it was apparently cut from the final print. He starred in several series of the situation comedy, , as Tom Chance, an eccentric individual to whom coincidences happened regularly. Roles like this and his part in brought him a wider audience than his many critically acclaimed stage appearances. At the same time, Callow was successful both as a director and as a writer. His Being An Actor (1984) was a critique of 'director dominated' theatre, in addition to containing autobiographical sections relating to his early career as an actor. At a time when subsidised theatre in the United Kingdom was under severe pressure from the Thatcher government, the work's original appearance caused a minor controversy. In 1992, he directed the play Shades by and the musical featuring costumes designed by . In 1995, he directed a stage version of the classic French film for the (RSC). The production was not a success. Callow has also directed opera productions. One of Callow's best-known books is Love Is Where It Falls, a poignant analysis of his eleven-year relationship with (1980–91), a prominent British theatrical agent from the 1960s to the 1980s. He has also written extensively about , whom he has played in a one-man show, The Mystery of Charles Dickens by , in the films and , and on television several times including An Audience with Charles Dickens (BBC, 1996) and in " ", a 2005 episode of the BBC science-fiction series . He returned to Doctor Who for the 2011 season finale, again taking the role of Dickens. Callow appeared with in 1994 British television series . In 1996 Callow directed in three musical pieces ( , The Waiter's Revenge, Ricercare No. 4) composed by his friend . Ricercare No. 4 was commissioned by Callow especially for Cantabile. He voice-acted the sly and traitorous Wolfgang in . In 2004, he appeared on a episode of for charity causes. In 2006, he wrote a piece for the BBC1 programme This Week bemoaning the lack of characters in modern politics. He has starred as Count Fosco, the villain of Wilkie Collins's novel The Woman in White, in film (1997) and on stage (2005, in the musical in the West End). In December 2004, he hosted the London Gay Men's Chorus Christmas Show, Make the Yuletide Gay at the in London. He is currently one of the patrons of the Michael Chekhov Studio London. Callow narrated the audio book of ' 2006 translation of 's . In July 2006, the London Oratory School Schola announced Callow as one of their new patrons. In November 2007 he threatened to resign the post over controversy surrounding the (an AIDS charity of which Callow is also a patron). Other patrons of the Catholic choir are and the leading Scottish composer . He reprised his role as Wolfgang in Shoebox Zoo and voice-acted the wild and action-seeking Hunter as well. From 11 July to 3 August 2008, Callow appeared at the in Canada in There Reigns Love, a performance of the sonnets of and also in 2008, he appeared at the Edinburgh Festival performing "Dr Marigold" and "Mr Chops" by Charles Dickens, adapted and directed by Patrick Garland; repeating them from December 2009 to January 2010 at the and on tour in 2011. In February 2008, he played the psychiatrist in 's production of Peter Shaffer's . Between March and August 2009, he starred as Pozzo in Sean Mathias's production of by Samuel Beckett opposite Sir (Estragon), Sir (Vladimir) and also Ronald Pickup (Lucky). The tour opened in Malvern before travelling to Milton Keynes, , , , Edinburgh and ; its run at the , was extended due to demand. From June to November 2010, he appeared in a national tour of a new one-man play, , written by Jonathan Bate, directed by Tom Cairns and produced by the Ambassador Theatre Group. The play was renamed Being Shakespeare for its West End debut at the Trafalgar Studios where it opened on 15 June 2011. It was revived at the same theatre in March 2012, prior to a run in New York City and Chicago. In March 2014, it returned to the West End, this time at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Callow has also written biographies of , and . He is currently at work on the third volume of his life of Welles. He has also written an anthology of Shakespeare passages, Shakespeare on Love, and contributed to Cambridge's Actors on Shakespeare series. Callow was also the reader of The Twits and The Witches in the Puffin Roald Dahl Audio Books Collection and has done audio versions of several abridged books that feature, among others, the fictional character Jeeves. They include Very Good, Jeeves and Aunts Aren't Gentlemen. A devotee of classical music, he has contributed articles to Gramophone magazine. Personal life Callow was listed 28th in 's 2007 listing of the most influential gay men and women in the UK. In 1999, he was appointed a Commander of the (CBE) for his services to acting. Callow lived with director . They shared a house in , North London, but have now ended their relationship. He was one of the first actors to publicly declare his homosexuality, doing so in his 1984 book Being An Actor. In an interview, Callow stated: "I'm not really an activist, although I am aware that there are some political acts one can do that actually make a difference and I think my coming out as a gay man was probably one of the most valuable things I've done in my life. I don't think any actor had done so voluntarily and I think it helped to change the culture." Filmography Film Television Bibliography * Callow, Simon (1986) 1984, Being an actor, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-312-07276-6 * Callow, Simon (1997), Charles Laughton : a difficult actor, Fromm International Pub, ISBN 978-0-88064-180-7 * Callow, Simon (2003), Shooting the actor, Picador, ISBN 978-0-312-42244-8 * Callow, Simon (1991), Acting in Restoration comedy, The Applause acting series, Applause Theatre Books, ISBN 978-1-55783-119-4 * Callow, Simon (1995), Orson Welles : the road to Xanadu, Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0-224-03852-2 * Callow, Simon (2007), Love is where it falls, Nick Hern, ISBN 1-85459-976-3 * Callow, Simon (2000), The night of the hunter, BFI film classics., BFI Publishing, ISBN 978-0-85170-822-5 * Callow, Simon (2003), Dickens' Christmas : a Victorian celebration, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 978-0-8109-4534-0 * Callow, Simon (2006), Orson Welles : hello Americans, Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0-224-03853-9 Category:Actors Category:People